Hello, friends! I apologize for the lapse. I was a bit under the weather. Today, Emma, our yellow Labrador and I set off aboard the 825 ferry to Portland for some leaf peeping and retail therapy! First stop, this awesome store called Planet Dog! This stop was all about Emma! She got a new dog toy! It is a long, flat skunk with squeakers in the paws. Emma picked it out. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos because we left it in the car in Portland and we are back in the island. It is her new car toy.

We also got a new “poop bag” for Emma. We use a small nylon bag to carry plastic disposable poop bags to dispose of the evidence, hand sanitizer, and treats. Her new bag is a Sea Bags bag!

These bags are extremely popular here in Maine. You see people with their Sea Bags tote bags all around town. The bags are made from recycled sails! Over the last fifteen years, Sea Bags has saved over 500 tons of material from going into landfills! How cool is that?!? The company is located on the waterfront at Custom House Wharf in Portland and they only use materials from the USA in their products. Head over to the Sea Bags website and check it out! Emma’s new poop bag, pictured above, says it so well. Woof.

We also made a grooming appointment for Emma for next week at Planet Dog! She is going to get prettified! Planet Dog is an amazing place…everything you could need for your favorite furry friend! Next time you are in Portland, drop in and have a look around. You won’t be disappointed!

Our next stop was the trusty Goodwill in Falmouth, Maine. I did quite well there, as usual. Darling daughter and I were texting this morning and she informed me she is on the hunt for some turtlenecks. We do love our turtlenecks. I found one for her! J Crew for $5. The photo doesn’t do it justice; it is more a periwinkle or cornflower blue than a slate blue.

These things are warm! This is not the first one I have owned. You see, I have been looking for toasty layering pieces to wear around the house as opposed to turning the heat up when it is chilly. Perfect! This sweater was marked $13, but I noticed it is missing the button on the very top. Not a big deal for me really. A quick negotiation with the manager resulted in a savings of $5.

Yes. I am that girl. I actually bargain with the staff at the thrift store. Should I be embarrassed? Have I taken frugality too far? In any case, I paid $8 for this lovely sweater which will hopefully help keep my oil bills lower this winter. The sweater of my ancestors. Irish!

Emma and I headed north, driving on Route 295 and then Route 1, through Brunswick, where we found a Salvation Army! I love Sally’s! I made it a quick trip in. They have tons of larger ladies clothes though! Lots of selection! I found a fleecy, turtleneck top for myself. It was marked $3.99.

And, for darling daughter, an adorable sweatshirt, marked $1.99.

Seriously! A yellow Labrador sweatshirt! Tres chic! Emma, Emma, Emma!!! I had to get this for DD!

So I was expecting to pay $6 something with tax. Nope! My total was $3.14! It was Senior Day. The cashier made an assumption. I don’t argue about my age, or how old people think I am. At this point, it is just a rounding error, am I right? I took the discount. Thank you very much.

We traveled as far north as Damariscotta, a beautiful, quintessential New England coastal village (so picturesque!). Of course, I don’t have photos because parking was limited in town. We just drove through, soaking it all up. There was a shop in Damariscotta I wanted to visit because they carry April Cornell merchandise.

I have an April Cornell problem. I love her stuff! I have been one of her biggest fans, collecting her dresses and linens for the last twenty years. Alas, I could not find the boutique I was looking for. I think I accidentally stumbled on a Donald Trump rally though. I hightailed it outta there!!! I will try to find the shop in Damariscotta another time.

Emma and I headed back towards Portland. We stopped in Falmouth again. This time at Skillins Green Houses because they carry some April Cornell linens! I needed an April Cornell fix! I found some beautiful dinner napkins to coordinate with my Noritake Blue Dawn chinaware!

I am thinking about the holidays and that I want to set a pretty table! I got eight napkins. The photo above is my Blue Dawn sugar dish and the stack of new dinner napkins! Very charming, I think.

I also bought a random napkin and pot holder in a different April Cornell print. This was all the shop had in the pattern. Too bad. I would have cleaned up!

We always use cloth napkins with our meals. Every meal. Nothing elevates a bowl of Lucky Charms like a beautiful, floral April Cornell napkin!

Skillins Green Houses in Falmouth, Maine also had an upstairs filled with clearance merchandise. I found this dish for $2.99 for darling daughter.
Isn’t it charming?

And, finally, two Halloween costumes for $2.99 each.

Not full-up costumes. But a start! Devil horns! I got a set for DD and one for myself. These horns with a bitching black dress and heels! Voilà! Instant Halloween costume! Always thinking. I am always thinking!

I managed to tote all this loot from the parking lot at the top of the Old Port to Casco Bay Lines. Emma and I caught the 545 ferry back to the island.

We got home just as it was getting dark. She is in her crate, snoring.

Yesterday Eric, Nate, and Reggie from Bekins delivered eighty-eight (88!) boxes, as many pieces of furniture, and some miscellany to our new townhome in Diamond Cove on Great Diamond Island, Maine! These three guys loaded the truck in Maryland last week. They did an excellent job.

Over the weekend the Bekin guys drove the fully loaded twenty five foot truck some 600 miles to Portland. About noon, the truck boarded a barge for the two-mile trip through Casco Bay to reach us on the island. Darling daughter met the truck in our golf cart to lead the crew to our townhouse.

The crew’s skill moving our belongings was evident. Within three hours, Eric (the crew chief), Nate, and Reggie had all our belongings on one of the three levels of the townhouse, beds reassembled, and boxes neatly stacked. Darling daughter and I are now officially up to our eyeballs in boxes!

Emma, our newly adopted yellow Labrador, spent part of the afternoon being the “store dog” of the day at the General Store at Diamond Cove, courtesy of Amy who runs the store and was also our real estate agent. Amy graciously agreed to host Emma.

In the middle of the afternoon, however, Emma decided it was time to come home. She got her leash off the hook and set out for home! Amy, realizing Emma had gotten loose, followed her to see where she would go. Emma came straight home!

Amy offered to take our clever dog back to the store until the guys were complete, but Emma went straight to her crate (she loves her crate!). She is such a good dog! Less than ten days on the island, and Emma knows where she lives!

Darling daughter and I said our goodbyes to Eric, Nate, and Reggie and got right to opening boxes. We started upstairs making beds so we wouldn’t have to spend another night sleeping on sofas. Her bedroom, being tiny, is nearly completely set up, down to the color coordination of her wardrobe hanging in the closet. Darling daughter had done a great job anticipating the size of her room (tiny!) and purged accordingly, making set up a proverbial breeze for her. My stuff is not so easy, but I will get there.

I am not going to post photos of our new home until we are set up. Going to focus on getting unpacked! Stay tuned!!!

Dear Goodness. We have been at it all day. We took the 0630 ferry with our new dog, Emma, from Great Diamond Island to Portland, then drove to my parents’ in Massachusetts. We had a nice visit and lunch with my brother Dan, his black Labrador, Etta, and mom and dad. Dan washed all the cars including our Mary Passat. He is going to sell Greta Jetta for us. While she has been a great car, it doesn’t make sense to keep a car we are not going to use. That is that.

Here are Emma and Etta getting some loving (and treats!) from Granpy and spending time together in the kitchen:

Heading back to the island after our visit, we stopped at Home Depot in Portland for some cleaning, prepping, and painting supplies. We have some upcoming projects!

First is flooring. We had the old carpeting removed from the townhouse and then the stairs recarpeted the other day. The new carpet is great! Check it out:

The old carpeting came out of the bedrooms too. It turns out there are fir floors, in the three bedrooms, in varying condition. Darling daughter and I were hoping the floors could be refinished. The guest room is in the best shape and the most likely candidate for refinishing.

Darling daughter’s room, not so much.

Check out that plywood! We will get some quotes to have two of the three bedrooms refinished. In the meantime, darling daughter is going to paint the floor in her bedroom! We also have a rug to use over the plywood. I think we can make the floor look good, with some elbow grease, creativity, and a gallon of paint.

The second project is a cleanup. In advance of the movers arriving with our household goods on Monday, we have got to get the bedroom floors cleaned up. They are very dusty and dirty and we want to minimize the mess on the newly carpeted stairs. Once thoroughly scrubbed, we are going to cover the floors with plastic to keep the dirt off the carpet. The floors under the carpeting are very dirty because this place had been abandoned for some fifty years.

The history of our townhouse is that it was constructed in an Army barracks built in the late 1800s. The Army base, Fort McKinley, was abandoned after World War II and fell into disrepair until a private developer converted the Army buildings into private residences in the 1990s. In other words, that is historic dust and dirt we are dealing with.

Darling daughter shopped the Home Depot for everything we need to tackle these projects. Then we picked up the slipcovers for the sofa and loveseat that came free with purchase of the townhouse from the dry cleaners. These had gone out to be cleaned last week. Things are really coming together!

We dropped our freight at Casco Bay Lines to be shipped on the 745 ferry. Then we grabbed some cold drinks (it was really hot here today!) and boarded the ferry with Emma.

A friend told me the name of the ferry “Wabanaki” is Native American for “People of the First Light”. I told him it means “Ride Home”. I was so ready to get home! To our new home! On Great Diamond Island! Woo hoo!

With a carful of random stuff the movers couldn’t pack for me. In Portland, I went to Casco Bay Lines and unloaded the car contents onto to two carts. For $30, CBL transported the stuff to the island. I took the 115pm ferry.

Darling daughter and Emma were waiting on the dock for me!

After a short time, the Resident Assistants delivered the random stuff from the car to our house.

It is supposed to be hot this weekend; luckily I brought our vintage electric fan collection in the car as we don’t have air conditioning in the house in Maine. Luckily! This is the view from the living room window:

This morning we rode the 0630 ferry back to Portland with Emma.

We headed back to my parents’ house in Massachusetts this morning to drop off Greta Jetta. Parking in Portland is expensive! As we can get by with just one car in Portland, my parents’ have graciously agreed to host Greta Jetta for the time being. Actually, we are likely to sell Greta Jetta as darling daughter can’t have her on campus as an undergrad and parking is so expensive in Portland!

My mom is making us lunch. Then we need to head back to Maine, trying to beat the Friday afternoon beach traffic. Etta is here with Dan. She and Emma are chilling together. I hope to write another post later today. Stay tuned!

Darling daughter, my brother, Dan, his better half, Nancy, and their Black Lab, Etta, picked up our new dog, Emma, yesterday!!! Emma just celebrated her third birthday at the beginning of the month. She and Etta hit the beach when they got to the island yesterday. Here she is on Great Diamond Island getting her first on-island bath courtesy of Dan!

She is such a sweetheart! So I am told…I haven’t met her yet. I am still in Maryland waiting for movers to come tomorrow to pack us up. Rats! But I will be there soon!

Here Emma is in Dan’s truck on the way to the island yesterday:

Having Etta around is helping Emma with her transition because she is a breeder’s dog, used to being kenneled with fifteen (15!) other dogs!

Emma is the star at our house! She is clearly not used to all the attention and paparazzi and autograph seekers. She will undoubtedly adapt to full time human love and attention in short order!

She is so beautiful! I want to kiss her! I have been busy handing out PINK cigars for our beautiful new yellow dog, Emma!

As avid planners, darling daughter and I have designed the interior of our new townhome on Great Diamond Island to the nth degree. This week we ordered the Draped Bijoux Chandelier and the Bloomstudy Rug from Anthropologie and ordered Berber carpeting for the stairs from Chic Interiors in Portland, Maine. We are on a roll!

I have to admit, though, I haven’t given much thought to our outdoor space: the patio! It is a charming little space that does not look very charming right now. The previous owner left some plastic Adirondack chairs.

The bicycle rack has been moved to the street. You can see my new electric golf cart (free with purchase) on the right side of the photo!

My dream design for the patio is to treat this outdoor space as a room and to furnish it with fabulous indoor-like furniture! Check this out:

Nothing says “make yourself comfortable” like a comfy couch! This is the Spinnaker Outdoor 80″ Slipcovered Sofa in Sail Sailor from Arhaus. An outdoor sofa covered in Sunbrella fabric! So chic! So practical! So perfect!

I would add two matching comfy chairs. These are the Spinnaker 50″ Outdoor Large Chairs in Sail Sailor, also from Arhaus. These upholstered pieces are handcrafted in North Carolina using marine-grade frames. Built to withstand the weather!

For those of you who don’t know about Arhaus, they are a furniture company who design great usable products, with great little design features. From their sectional sofas to office desks to decor, it’s definitely easy to see that they have beautiful products built for future!

Of course, we would need a coffee table for our fabulous outdoor room. This will do the trick! The Lanai Outdoor Coffee Table by Arhaus. I love the texture! At nearly 40″ square, it provides plenty of surface for snacks, games, and sandy feet!
Again, treating this outdoor space as an indoor room, I would include a floor covering. Here we have the Colusa Outdoor Rug in Cream from Arhaus. Lovely!

For a bit of accessorizing, I would group three (because I love trios) lanterns on the Lanai Coffee Table, elevating one lantern on a short stack of books. I like these Calpyso 12″ lanterns from, you guessed it, Arhaus! The shape of the lanterns mirrors the pattern on the rug! Cool, no?

For safety sake, I would use these flameless candles from terrain inside the lanterns. Safety first, people!

To serve some snacks, I would use this Scalloped Marble Serving Board also from terrain. I love the shape!

Because the patio is shaded by trees, I am not including an umbrella. I am, however, planning to upgrade the landscaping and to remulch the flowerbeds, too. I think this will improve the patio area and make it into a wonderful space to entertain our family and friends!

Well, that is enough daydream designing for one day! MUST. GO. ORGANIZE. AND. CLEAN. AND. PACK. The movers will be here on Monday! Yikes!

Today was the day! We closed on our new home in Diamond Cove on Great Diamond Island, Maine today!

The townhouse is ours!

Here is Skippy waiting for his first ferry ride (or what we assume to be his first ferry ride…if he has ridden a ferry in the past he hasn’t said so):

I thought it would be a good idea to hand carry my taxidermied deer to the island rather than to have him packed and shipped by the movers. I got lots of strange looks and some laughs as I toted him down Commercial Street in Portland this afternoon. I scared one of the deckhands as I carried Skippy off the ferry. I guess if you aren’t expecting to see a six point buck on the ferry and you turn around quickly and find yourself locked in his unflinching gaze it might be a bit alarming!

Darling daughter and I are spending the night at the Inn at Diamond Cove this evening as the townhouse is empty. The Inn is absolutely lovely! Just gorgeous. We celebrated our new home with some blueberry Margaritas and a game of Scrabble at the bar earlier this evening. This is the fire pit outside the Inn:

We will meet our painter in the morning. We are having the place professionally painted, top to bottom, before we move in. My brother is coming to the island tomorrow, too. We plan to pull back the carpeting upstairs to assess the condition of the wood floors to see if they can be refinished. I also need a quick lesson in how to operate my new golf cart (free with purchase of townhouse!). My brother will be able to help me, I am sure.

Tomorrow night we will head back to my parents’ house in Massachusetts. It looks like we will be spending the day with them on Saturday and traveling back to Maryland on Sunday. Then we will have two and a half weeks to finish purging and organizing before our move! The movers are scheduled to deliver our furnishings at some point between July 21 and July 25.

When darling daughter and I move to Great Diamond Island (GDI), Maine in forty-five (45!) days, we will be welcoming a new family member!

I would like you to meet Pink! She is a three year old English Labrador from Riorock Labradors. In July, if all goes as planned, Pink will be joining us for fun and adventure GDI style!

I have wanted a yellow Labrador of my very own for a long time. I was on the puppy list at Riorock, but an opportunity arose to adopt Pink. I jumped on it! I am looking forward to lots of love and companionship with this beautiful dog! We are going to be the best of friends! On an island adventure!